Odds On Dying A Strange Death

Here are some statistics regarding the odds of dying a strange or odd death:

300,000,000/1 SHARK ATTACK



AROUND 40 people are killed every year from shark attacks, with the numbers increasing as more people take holidays on coasts where sharks live.



300,000,000/1 FAIRGROUND ACCIDENT

THE worst rollercoaster accident in Britain was in 1972 when five children were killed on the Big Dipper in Battersea, London, when one of the cars broke loose and collided with another. Just last week 29 people were injured when the Runaway Mine Train at Alton Towers split in two.



250,000,000/1 FALLING COCONUT



COCONUTS apparently kill around 150 people every year. Falling from a height of 80 feet, they can build up an impact speed of 50 mph.



11,000,000/1 PLANE CRASH



PLANE crashes worldwide claim 1,300 people every year. Young men are most likely to emerge from the wreckage alive - and 12 per cent of passengers who survive the impact will die from shock later.



10,000,000/1 KILLED BY LIGHTNING



IN the UK around five people are killed by being hit by lightning every year. And men are four times more likely to be struck than women.



10,000,000/1



KILLED BY THE ESCAPE OF RADIATION FROM A NEARBY NUCLEAR POWER STATION.



THE chances of an explosion at a nuclear reactor are increasing with the risk of terrorism and as conventional fuels run out. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster and its aftermath has killed an estimated 30,000 people.



9,300,000/1 DYING IN TERRORIST ATTACK



LAST year there were 651 significant international terrorist attacks worldwide, killing nearly 2,000 people.



5,000,000/1 SCALDED BY HOT TAP WATER.



CHILDREN under five are most at risk, with 126 accidents reported every year in Britain. In Japan, around 150 people die from hot water scalding every year.



4,400,000/1 LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE KILLED USING A RIGHT-HANDED PRODUCT.

Way To Die # 15: Death By Shot - Death By Drinking / Circus Death

Bad Day at the Circus

A circus act in Romania ended in tragedy on 23 January when fire-eater Vlad Cazacu, 43, belched in mid-performance and was blown to bits. Incredibly no one came to his rescue as stunned onlookers assumed this was part of an amazing illusion. Consequently this unfortunate man, who probably could have been saved, was allowed to just lie there and die.

"In the first part of the performance," said fellow circus performer Nicole Antosu, "Vlad held a flammable cocktail in his mouth to spit fire at a burning torch. Somehow, he must have swallowed some of the liquid, because when he burped he triggered an explosion."

Way To Die #14: Death by Storm Drain

Way To Die #14: Death by Storm Drain

Sadly, more than one person has died after getting stuck in a storm drain.This bizarre and sad death is a good example of tragic bad luck. In 2008, a Canadian man died after attempting to retrieve his stolen wallet from a storm sewer drain. The wallet and some other personal items were stolen after the 57-year-old man left them at a gas station. He called police before finding the wallet in a nearby sewer drain. He tried unsuccessfully to reach it once before the police arrived and cautioned him not to try again. But the man came back later, removed the grate and gave it another shot. When an officer investigating the crime noticed the man's truck had returned, he went to check out the drain and found the man wedged headfirst several feet below the street. The victim was still alive at this point and remained so as firefighters used a tow truck to pull him from the drain. Sadly, he was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.